BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: PIKE & ROSE, INCLUDING GAP (PHOTOS)

Some of the exterior wraps are off at Gap on Grand Park Avenue, in Federal Realty's new Pike & Rose development in White Flint.

Meanwhile, two other tenants have opened this past weekend at the property. iPic Theaters opened Friday, without extending any preview invitation to this blogger, and thereby reaching less total audience. Doesn't seem too smart, given the extensive outreach competitors ArcLight Cinemas and Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema have engaged in prior to opening. The majority of iPic's PR seems to be focused on legacy media like broadcast TV, print newspapers, FM radio and glossy magazines - which probably would strike those who get most of their news via smartphone these days as a bit behind the times. iPic does have a couple of cool promotional spectacles going on at the actual property, though. One was a man on stilts walking around Pike & Rose, and the other was a projection of the Hollywood sign on a blank construction barrier wall.

Women's apparel boutique Francesca's opened Saturday.

With these openings, parking was jammed in the garage off of Grand Park Avenue Saturday. Room to maneuver along the drive aisles inside the garage proved to be quite tight, now that more people are visiting. Parking is indeed free for 2 hours, and no validation is necessary for that. Longer validations for free parking are available from tenants like Del Frisco's Grille and iPic. If confronted with a similar squeeze in the garage, your best bet is to skip Grand Park Avenue, and head to the garage entrance west of it along Old Georgetown Road, just past Del Frisco's Grille's patio.

Stilt walker near
Del Frisco's Grille

AMP sign is lit

"Goodnight from Hollywood"

PIKE & ROSE PARKING (PHOTOS)

Planning to head to Pike & Rose for Thursday's opening of Del Frisco's Grille? You can park in the garage at 11800 Grand Park Avenue. The street is at the signaled intersection with Old Georgetown Road about halfway between Rockville Pike (MD 355) and Executive Boulevard. After turning into Grand Park Avenue, drive up to the (temporary) end of the street, and turn left onto the garage entrance ramp. Alternatively, you can enter from 11580 Old Georgetown Road (although I did not try that yet), if you're on the Pike and Rose side of Old Georgetown.

One question readers have asked in the past is, will there be paid parking at Pike and Rose like Federal Realty's other town center-style properties, or would it be free like White Flint Mall or Montrose Crossing? The answer is, it is paid parking, using the Easy Pay system (take your ticket on the way in, and keep it with you). There is also free, 2-hour surface parking for the businesses at the corner of Old Georgetown and 355, such as Starbucks.

Businesses will offer parking garage ticket validation (although the Pike & Rose website says the first two hours are flat out free, without mentioning validation). Del Frisco's Grille, for example, will validate parking for 2 hours for you. Sport and Health will give you 2 1/2 hours. The iPic Theaters, opening in November, will give you a bit more for a movie: 3-and-a-half hours. Not enough time?

2 to 3 hours $1.00
3 to 4 hours $2.00
4 to 5 hours $3.00
5 to 24 hours $10.00

One other interesting point is that the garage uses the green/red overhead lighting system, like the Rockville Town Square garages. Searching for a space? If the lights are all red, head to the next row to find a green one.

Want to handle parking in advance? You can do it online with Parking Panda's Pike and Rose parking reservations and payment system.  Although, when testing it as of this writing, it was telling me the parking space would be at the Marriott North Bethesda Convention Center across the street, not at Pike & Rose. The Pike & Rose development is so new, have some patience with the various services that are being phased in. A $5 valet parking service is also scheduled to begin operating after October 1.